So first of all - yay! I survived the Bolivian Death Road!
Last night we said goodbye to our guide, Carla and then had an early night in.
This morning, 12 of us got picked up from the hotel at 8am for our Bolivian Death Road tour.
We drove for about an hour. Something I've noticed both here and Peru that I've kept meaning to mention is the ridiculous amount of speed bumps everywhere. They're on every main road! So don't complain anymore at home!!
After an hour we reached a flat area surrounded by mountains that was at 4700m above sea level. Hard to breathe!!! Here we were given some snacks and our protective gear - gloves, pants, jacket and helmet. These were bright colours, the guides joked that it was so you can be found easily if you plummet off the cliff - yikes! I got the smallest size they had and still looked like I belonged on the Subway ad. I had to tie the tie around my hips twice!!
Then we were given our bikes and we were on our way. The first half an hour was on an asphalt road. I was always a little nervous about today because when I was about 13 I skidded down a hill on my bike and grazed my hands, arms, face badly and it was not nice. Even though it was so long ago I still don't like going fast downhill on a bike. So here I surprised myself because I went quite fast. The only bit I hated here was an off-road section that was very bumpy.
The scenery was spectacular, and eventually we arrived at another snack stop where we had to pay a national park fee and then set off in the bus. The next 15 minutes of driving were uphill, and the tour guides told us that they used to make people ride it but have since decided it's easier to drive that part because people really struggled with the altitude.
Then we got out and set off. Unlike the inca trail, I was quite happy to be at the back today. I pulled up the rear the entire ride. The first 30 minutes we rode on asphalt was 24km downhill. The next 2-2.5 hours we rode 30km over bumpy downhill paths. So altogether 54km - 8 more than the inca trail!
The scenery was amazing all day, but I can see why people have died. Our guide Julio (pronounced Hulio) told us that up until 2006 the Bolivian death road was a main road used by lorries, big trucks, buses and individual cars. In some places it's only 3m wide, so you can see why 100 people used to die a year on the road (one every 3-4 days!) by falling down the up to 600m sheer drop. He said there are a lot of abandoned cars etc. at the bottom, but that firemen had to go and rescue all the bodies. The road has since been closed as a main road, now some locals use it to drive (people live along parts of it) and lots of people like us bike ride it. You may have seen it on 'Hamish and Andy's Gap Year' and 'Topgear'. Apparently since people started doing bike tours 28 people have fallen over the edge and died, all of whom were showing off or going too fast (one girl was taking selfies!).
I'll be honest, I was terrified. Pretty much the entire 30km. At a few points my hands went numb from holding on so tight, and the scariest part was when I went too close to the edge one time and looked down to see a HUGE drop. But if travel has taught me anything it's that you have to give everything a go no matter what, and push through whatever past fears you have. So I kept going, but pretty slowly. Anne and I nicknamed ourselves "Team Tortoise" because we were the slowpokes at the back. My speed was quite fast for me though, some of the others were going extremely fast. I would much rather go slower and ensure I live to see many more days!
We stopped for a few photo opps. We weren't allowed to use our cameras during the ride (for obvious reasons) but the guides took heaps. My favourite one was when we all sat on the edge of a cliff. Perks of coming last - got to be at the front of the photo!
I was going quite well, especially considering some downhill parts were really bumpy and/or wet. But then with about 10km to go my awful stomach ache came back. This was also the bumpiest section. I came last by heaps this time, but I went as fast as I could. We had one last rest and were told there was 6km to go. The last part was so hard. At one point I stopped because the stabbing pains were so bad and again I'll be honest - there were tears! Not many, but a few that escaped because it hurt so much. But it made finishing the 30km all the more accomplishing, and Anne and Daniel were there to cheer me on at the bottom when I finished! Here we were at 1300m above sea level, I told you the hills were steep!
The guides took some more photos and we got a T-shirt saying we survived the Death Road. Then we got back in the vans and drove to a nearby resort. The morning was cold and cloudy but by this stage it was quite warm and sunny. We had lunch, I forced myself to have some of the buffet. Thinking I might look into some antibiotics soon, don't want to put up with this any longer!
Everyone else went for a swim but the pool had no shade at all and the last thing I felt like doing was sitting out in the sun, so I had a shower (was very sweaty from all the protective layers of the bike ride!) and then just chilled out in the shade.
We drove 2.5 hours back to the hotel. On the way back we passed through an area where there had been a landslide! Tonight we have our tour meeting at 8pm. The tour I'm doing is actually three tours added together. So last night we lost six people,tonight we gain six more.
There aren't many photos on this post because the guides haven't given us our discs of photos from today yet. I'll have them up on a separate post as soon as possible! I took a few at the start and throughout on my camera. Should have them up tonight Melbourne time, worst case Thursday morning.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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